First the wait for the confrontation with Nicola, from which the coach’s willingness to accept Cagliari’s proposal emerged, then the courtship of the former Eusebio Di Francesco, who in the end seems one step away from signing with the newly promoted Venezia. The last chapter of the coach-telenovela in Empoli has the name and surname of William Viali. Given initially in pole position as the future master of the Italian bench after failing to convince Di Francesco, thanks to the excellent relationship with the new manager Roberto Gemmi with whom he shared the excellent experience in Cosenza, now he too appears get away. The Milanese coach is defining the final details with Reggiana. He will therefore remain in Serie B and this makes us think that all things considered, Empoli never really sunk the blow, given that Viali would have jumped at the chance to coach in Serie A for the first time. And perhaps precisely the fact of being faced with a debutant in the category did not fully convince the Italian management to bet on him, which would have been a real gamble capable of perhaps bringing new ideas, but also with the risk of facing a season complicated.
And what happens now? It being understood that at the moment, from a formal point of view, the Italian coach is still Davide Nicola, for whom work is continuing with Cagliari to free him from the contract that would tie him until June 2025 with president Fabrizio’s club Corsi, Empoli is continuing to look around. Among the names that had been linked to the Italian club in the last period, the most concrete at this point could be that of Marco Giampaolo, but it cannot be ruled out that the president and sporting director are secretly working on some other profile. What is certain is that today it could already be important in this sense, at least for the official nature of Nicola’s farewell. A situation of uncertainty which, of course, does not facilitate the composition of the squad, given that it is reasonable to expect that many indications will also come from those who will ultimately have to coach this team. Of course, if Empoli’s decision was to actually try to bring Giampaolo back to the Castellani-Computer Gross Arena, this would at least eliminate the classic settling-in period given that the former Azzurri coach, last assignment at Sampdoria in 2021-’22, knows the place was good having coached us in 2015-’16 when with 46 points and 11th place he achieved the second best result in the club’s history. He knows how to work around here and is much loved by the fans.
